


Mirrors of the Fox

by Abby_Ebon



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, YuYu Hakusho
Genre: Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-22
Updated: 2012-08-22
Packaged: 2017-11-12 16:26:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/493278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abby_Ebon/pseuds/Abby_Ebon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Once called "Asahi's Mirror")<br/>Yu Yu Hakusho & InuYasha crossover. Before Minamino Shuichi, there was Youko Kurama. What if he had been a half fox demon? What if, before the cold Youko Kurama, there had been Asahi, adopted of the Inu no Taishou, Brother in Spirit of Sesshomaru.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mother of the Morning Sun

In the autumn rain, sloshing through the fallen foliage, a woman made her way to the ruins; these were the ancient remains of an even older estate then the main house. Her figure – crouched as it was, could still be made out in the light downpour of rain, for her stomach protruded out with an unborn child.

Her breaths were labored –it was not the rain-like tears that gave way her fear, but the sobs catching in her throat her most hysterical moment. She, youngest – and most powerful of her family, had been made _weary_ by the walk from the main house to the ruins. This had never, in her life, happened to _her_ before.

 _So this is what a half-demon brat gets me?_ She thought sarcastically; one hand resting on her stomach, the other leaned against the spider-web like cracks in the walls of the estate. Her nails clenched into the wall – unnoticed by the woman, they left dents. _Death, then, is the only answer - to it - and me, for my stupidity…_

With the rain fell tears of regret – regret that for the spring celebrations she had let herself be lured to a demon. In the weeks that followed the sordid affair, she had assured herself when he came to her at night, that, he's kind - a demon – particularly, the kitsune (of which he was), she had thought with bitter regret, would not leave its mate or child, human, or half human, not even for another fox-demon.

She had been proven wrong that night, when she had told him of his unborn child, and the night after, he had not returned, and now – near the child's birth, she was alone. She closed her eyes, remembering simpler times.

That - when she had been younger, this simple old room in the ruins had been swept religiously by their mother of the dead leaves that now blanketed the floor, it had been a pretend fort, house, and castle; though she knew now that that was not far from the truth of this place. Memories of the laughter of her older brothers and sisters, echoed, unheard - and eerie in these silenced ruins.

The light rain that had started as she had left the main house had ceased altogether, although she hadn't noticed – lost in her thoughts. Now, as sunlight seeped into the hauntingly silent room, she took notice. A doll – forgotten, with times aid, lay in a corner of the ruins – it had, by accident or design, been abandoned by her – or one of her sisters, in their childhood.

She rubbed the wetness of what she told herself to be rain from her cheeks, turning her head to where the well laid. Her ancestors had made the well the central part of the courtyard, making their estate around it. As a child, her grandmother had told her the well had been build long before the estate – and no one know who, or what, had build it. Or for what reason, for no water could ever be drawn from it, no matter how deep they dug.

Suddenly, as she moved from the shadow of the ruins to the courtyard, fully intending to throw herself over the side of it, she heard… _something_. A slight frown marred her face, and she considered that –just maybe, her kitsune lover had followed her out here – to beg her forgiveness, shaking the hope away, she made her way over to where the sound had come from

"Hello, is anyone out there?" She called out, her voice echoing oddly through the ruins.

" _ **Ahhhroew**_!" It was a sound unlike any other, a call of a demon – alike to a cats meow and a child's scream. It came from behind her – from the well. A shadow fell over her, and she spun around, and a deceitfully gentle wind brushed her cheeks. A chill ran down her spine - an unseen danger tug at her senses, desperate for her attention.

Her family had been cursed – or blessed, with the ability to sense the intensions of demons. This one, she knew, did not want to hurt her – but to kill her child, but, she knew, that, in turn would kill her. She had not indented to die by a demon's hands – but it seemed to be what fate intended.

She called her power to her – and another power answered – sung along her veins, pounded through her blood. She had not intended to – but she had awakened something that had been sleeping. Beneath her the ground shook – and the demon she knew to be there paused, startled as she was.

A melody, haunting and alive – like the bone drums her grandfather had played at her grandmother's funeral, echoed receptively through the ruins, _calling_ – tugging at her senses, _forward_ the melody seemed to urge _to me, to the well_.

The well, the one her family had guarded in some way or another, for over a thousand or more years. The one she had thought dead – the magic and energy of it _sealed_ , broken by the ancestry seal, was now broken.

Unexpectedly, she found herself standing over the well – she did not remember walking to it, but she must have. Her stomach, filled with an unborn child, pressed against the _warm_ and _alive_ stone of the well.

The beating of the bone-drums seemed to grow louder – shockingly so, and she would have lurched away, had not the demon, which had remained hidden until now, lunged at her and – harsh claws grabbed her, pushing them both down into the well.

She woke to the darkness of the well, and the worst smell she had ever scented – blood, her own blood made her gag – it came from between her legs, swallowing down her fear, hysteria tickling the back of her throat, as she was sitting up, she looked around.

Her eyes adjusted to the night. She thought she might throw up, covering her mouth; she looked up, a shudder of both horror and hopelessness running through her. She was _in the well_. She was _trapped_. She closed eyes; she did the only thing her body allowed.

She _screamed_.

For the first time in her life, she cried. She had lost _everything_ \- her _lover_ , her _dignity_. All because of the _stupid_ half-demon brat she carried, now it seemed she would lose her _life_ to exposure, because she could not even choose her own way to die.

She shivered in both fear, and from the cold; she huddled into a protective – if prone, position.

A shadow covered her own – casting her into darkness, seemingly without hope, from what little moonlight that had entered the well – she saw now why it was now blocked. She looked up- in time to see poisonous – and acidic saliva drop onto her shoulder, slowly eating its way into her flesh. She whimpered in pain, and a soft deadly hiss reached her ears- her eyes clouded quickly, she was falling into the darkness of sleep – a darkness she knew she would not awake from.

Snake eyes, that were luminous soft silver, looked into her emerald ones; demon and human stared eye to eye.

The demon hissed, curling its scaled body around hers, and lifting her limp body out of the well. She couldn't muster the strength to move. The poison had done its job well; she was becoming drowsy and tired - despite the pain of it eating through her.

Ever so slowly, darkness claimed her…

O.o.O.o.O.o.O

Icy gold eyes watched as the snake demon took the silly pregnant human, who had likely fallen from the well. The sliver coat of the dog demon, glinted in the moonlight, as it prepared to leave, rather then watch the snake feast off of the woman and her unborn pup. A silver tail swooshed back, and the dog demon – a female, prepared to leave them.

Then, as she- known as Tsukiojou, inhaled to locate her mate and pup – instead she froze, and turned back to the ugly sight – the pup that the snake demon forced from the woman was _demon_ – a half-demon fox _kit_. Tsukiojou's parental instincts stirred, and she knew herself now unable to leave the kit, helpless, blind, and forced from the women's womb before its time.

Whiskered lips came up in a silent snarl – and Tsukiojou lunged for the snake demon, biting cleanly into its neck, and feeling the satisfyingly crunch of its neck snapping. She shook it for good measure and went to the human – and the kit.

Humans, Tsukiojou knew nothing about - but the mother had lost an alarming amount of blood – but, despite its unorthodox birth, the kit was unharmed – if mewling rather insistently for milk. Tsukiojou huffed a breath of her air at its scrunched up and human-like face as it took a breath, forcing it to take in her scent, it cooed up at her, and carefully she shifted into a human-like form.

Tsukiojou was pale under the moonlight, small, barely noticeable silver hairs covering her skin, and a long mane of silver hair covered her shoulders, and fell down to her thighs. She reached out to the infant, her hands were small, and looked soft, and where her nails might be, were claws.

As Tsukiojou held the kit, she was careful to lift the half-human kit with only the palms of her hands, so his delicate and frail skin would not tare on them. Tsukiojou sat there – letting it nurse when it mewled its need, she was torn between taking the infant to raise him as her own, or to wait for its human mother to wake.

Under pale moonlight she nursed him – a keen prang went through her, of missing her own mate and pup, hoping they would understand her need, Tsukiojou waited even longer - just for the human to wake. As the morning sun dawned, and she did not show signs of stirring, Tsukiojou grew frustrated with the waiting; she stood, looking down at the bloody – yet still alive, woman.

 _What kind of mother does not waken to protect her young?_ The dog demon thought down at her – sneering, for _she_ would have _known_ if a stranger lay so near her cub, and, even as injured as the human- even with the drugs from the snakes bite, Tsukiojou would have fought till her last breath to protect it – half demon or not.

Tsukiojou lifted the kit to her chest to nurse, and feeling quite disgusted by humans – left the clearing near the well, the kit to her cheat, and her mind cleared to finding her mate and pup and introducing the newest member of the family to them.

She found her mate, in his dog-demon form, pacing franticly at the entrance to the meeting place. Upon seeing her, he too grew into the shape of a human-likeness; he too had pointed ears and the tell-tale streak beneath his amber eyes.

Unlike her, he favored holding back his mane of silver hair into a pony tail, while she favored some of hers in short locks before her ears, and the rest in two pony tails.

"Tsukiojou! Where have you been?" Her mate, the Inu no Taishou, demanded.

 _I…I shouldn't be alive…_ The human woman thought as she came to, _somehow_ , she knew she had survived the removal of her child – and _now_ she lay against the _edge_ of the well outside of the well, when she so clearly remembered being inside it– which had returned to its stony coldness, none the less she was _outside_ of it, and so very… _tired_.

She sighed - exhausted, closing her eyes – knowing it was a bad idea, yet unable to help doing so. The well beside her alit aglow in a soft blue and hummed, and like a bone hitting a piece of steel, its duty done, and the only sign that it was calling the nearby villagers to it.


	2. The Fox of the Dog House

_"Tsukiojou! Where have you been?" Her mate, the Inu no Taishou, demanded._

Tsukiojou looked up at her mate, meeting his anxious golden eyes with her own calmer ones. She smiled serenely up and him - going to him and licking his chin for forgiveness, she fangs teasing his bottom lip, hoping to distract him from his sour mood.

He growled softly in annoyance – pulling away from her advances at the thought that he had been so worried for nothing, with a soft whining sigh – to which he quickly looked back to her, for she had never made a pleading noise unless in dire need.

His golden eyes on her, she lifted the sleeping kit in her arms, rocking it, the lazy motion attracting his attention. The Inu no Taishou, she was somewhat amused to see, had been so caught up in her, he had not smelled or saw the sleeping kit. He inhaled – nose flaring and taking in the newcomer, his eyes widened in surprise at the scent of a half demon.

Tsukiojou saw this, and bared her teeth – she would keep the kit, and she had not expected her husband to mind too much. He was always soft to humans and half-demons alike, some thought that made him weak – but he beat whoever challenged him. Demons were slowly finding themselves changing their opinions of half demons – if only a fraction of them.

As if to plead its own case – the kit called out blindly, a soft heart wrenching whine. That, she knew, caught and pulled on the Inu no Taishou's heart-strings. Tsukiojou could not have been more pleased by the effect.

"He needs us. If Sesshomaru agrees to it, we shall keep him." Tsukiojou told him, defiant.

Her husband stood – staring dumbly at the kit, at all that it represented to his family; all that it would represent. He made no protest however, and Tsukiojou took it for an agreement to her words.

He did not bother to move, though, so she smoothly passed his still form to enter the cave – where her pup slept. Her eyes adjusted within moments to darkness so complete, that, even during the heat of the day it would have had humans carrying in a torch, to see the dark cave walls.

Tsukiojou, like all mothers, was proud of her first little pup. In her eyes, he was perfect. So, automatically, she sought out his sleeping form, eyes going over his face – the two almost- crimson marks under each of his golden eyes, and the twin to her crescent moon symbol upon his brow.

There was no doubt to anyone upon laying eyes on him that he was the son of the Inu no Taishou.

Tsukiojou moved into the cave, her steps silent, yet even so her son stirred, his senses telling him in his sleep that someone other then his father and mother had entered their territory. She smiled warmly down at him, settling herself beside her pup, waiting for him to wake.

He did so, as all young things did, slowly, gradually moving himself to lay his head on her lap – his nose flaring – taking in that the scent of the stranger was mixed with her; his brow wrinkling at the hint of blood that accompanied the new scent.

"Mother?" Sesshomaru greeted and inquired all at once, his eyes flicking from her to the kit, and then to her – a question in their depths.

Sesshomaru's nose twitched at the odd smell that emitted from the kit. Like the forest, and fruit, and something else. For the first time in his life, Sesshomaru couldn't place a scent. It was like a human, but mixed with the power of a demon.

His eyes finally opened – and he blinked sleepily up at her, relaxing when she petted his silver hair soothingly with one hand – the other still holding the kit – which he was now forced to see. Sesshomaru's golden eyes had widened in open shock.

It had silver hair, white furry ears, claws, and bright sunlight-amber eyes. Sesshomaru learned in closer, its smell giving away that it had been born only hours ago. His sudden silvery appearance in the infant's blurred vision caused the infant to blink and wriggle in her arms.

A tiny hand reached out, but Sesshomaru ignored it, and paid a price for it. Sesshomaru yipped in surprise, when the kit's hand grabbed his silver hair, and pulled his face closer. A tiny silver tail brushed Sesshomaru's nose, nearly causing him to sneeze.

Tsukiojou, watching all this, laughed – startled, the kit let go of his hair, and Sesshoumaru took the opportunity presented. Jerking his face away, he did sneeze, the odd scent clinging to his nose as he shook his head.

"What is it?" Sesshomaru questioned her, Tsukiojou snorted; it was obvious he was interested in the answer – if a bit puzzled at his own interest.

"It is a kit. As far as I can tell it is a half fox demon." Tsukiojou explained calmly, holding the kit closer to her.

"No, I mean, what's its gender?" Sesshomaru asked, Tsukiojou blinked at him – then down at the kit.

"Meet your new…um…" I would forget to check its gender… Tsukiojou thought scathingly to herself as she took a quick peek between its legs, ignoring her son's look of open bemusement, "baby brother!" She cried out before he could say anything too mocking.

"What's his name?" Sesshomaru asked causally, his lips quirking in a smirk at her expense.

"Hasn't got one yet, he might as well be an orphan for all the human woman did to protect him from a snake demon." Tsukiojou told her son, sneering at the word human, Sesshomaru remaining silent beside her.

"Ah, come on Tsukiojou! Humans aren't that bad!" Inu no Taishou protested abruptly– finally coming back to himself, turning away from where he had stood.

"Tell that to this little one!" Tsukiojou pointed out, holding the kit up for her husband to take. He did so, clumsily, keeping his claws away from its flesh as he held its torso, a look of bafflement on both their faces.

"Humans aren't that bad?" Inu no Taishou repeated, the kit squealed, and Tsukiojou smirked as a panicked 'what do I do?' look passed over her mates face. Tsukiojou calmly took charge, swiftly lifting the kit from the Inu no Taishou's hands, and patting the infants back until it burped.

"That proves it – he'll hate humans when he's all grown up – isn't he precious?" Tsukiojou cooed down to the kit – Sesshomaru and Inu no Taishou exchanged a look, which Tsukiojou pretended not to notice, all the while plotting her revenge for the look.

"Yes, well, Mother, what are we going to call him, if – indeed, we are going to keep him?" Sesshomaru inquired, keeping his tone light, his fingers taping onto the ground as he watched his mother coo over a half demon kit. He only hoped his mother hadn't done that to him as an infant – it would have been mortifying, even some hundred years later.

"I don't know, what do you suggest my dear Inu no Taishou?" Tsukiojou asked, lifting her eyes to her mates, a blank look entered them. She knew he had a terrible time of coming up with names – even with a near year of warning. And how she loved to rub his face in it – a hundred years later and he still flinched ever so slightly whenever he heard 'Sesshomaru', hence why her sons name was shortened to 'Omaru', or when she felt playful 'Sessho'.

"Well, um, that is, since you didn't return with him until sunrise, why not…Asahi?" Inu no Taishou suggested with much hesitation and delay, Tsukiojou nodded thoughtfully, taping the kits nose. "Very well then, Asahi it shall be." Inu no Taishou's shoulders sank with relief.

Sesshomaru grinned at his mother – too bad for the half-human kit the first decent name Inu no Taishou came up with was a girly one.

"Mother, how are we going to feed him?" Sesshomaru asked his mother once Asahi had started fussing for milk. Tsukiojou and the Inu no Taishou shared a look, they both know of some kitsune demons not a half days run from where they sheltered in the cave.

"Sesshomaru, can I trust you to watch Asahi while your mother and I get something that will suit him?" The Inu no Taishou asked of his son, who nodded in agreement.

Inu Daiyōkai – the great dog demons had no marked territory, no homes, except when they had pups and even then, stayed only long enough until the pup could walk and run on its own; they wandered, usually alone, and constantly - they thought of all the lands they wandered as theirs.

Often, they were sought for protection, and granted it – as the Lords of their territory – and, in turn, their pups were guarded fiercely by all who meant to take advantage of the Inu Daiyōkai loose tuff rules.

The Inu no Taishou was the only recognized the leader of the Inu Daiyōkai, and, in turn, the Lord of the Western Lands, where lay the Inu Daiyōkai's only physical presence on the land.

Tsukiojou carefully handed the newly named Asahi over to her son, and after petting his hair, she and the Inu no Taishou left him – swiftly running over the lands separating then from the near by kitsune family.

"You," Sesshomaru told his newly found 'brother', "need a bath." Sesshomaru told him firmly, nose twitching at the blood-scent that clung to the kit. Sesshomaru stood, and carefully made his way to the small river-pool that flowed near the cave.

Finding a small clearing, Sesshomaru sat down, keeping the newly named Asahi in his lap. The pup wriggled, now that Sesshoumaru saw it under the sun, looked well-developed, and not so red-and-wrinkly as the new human baby a village human hand once shoved in his fathers face to 'bless'.

Sesshomaru glanced down into the pool of clear water – seeing his own reflection of what appeared to be a human child of ten, indeed – the only signs he was a demon was his pointed ears and demon markings.

Even if, by human age, he was nearly a hundred years old – and it would be two hundred years more of being with at least one of his parents before he would be judged old enough by Inu Daiyōkai standards to be on his own.

Sesshomaru looked to his 'brother'. Despite just being born, the kit would likely be able to walk and run by half a year – and then spend the next two hundred playing 'catch up' with Sesshomaru.

By the time both of them were old enough to be out on their own – they would look nearly twenty, despite a two hundred year gap. That, Sesshomaru knew, was the main reason demons disliked – and even hated half demons, they reminded demons that they weren't immortal – and that if a demon grew close to friendship or loving a half demon, the half demon would die far sooner then before the demon would grow old.

Even knowing this, Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel protective for the kit. Cooing at Sesshomaru, the kit wriggled to get free, to explore his wide new surroundings - like most kitsune kits did after their births. Sesshomaru tugged his sash off, dipping it in the cool water, and bringing it to the kits smelly skin.

Sesshomaru kept a firm grip on the kit's tail (knowing that it would take a lot to hurt them by their tails) and silently telling it by body-language not to move. Sesshomaru found himself lost to the task, intently cleaning the kits silky hair and furry ears, and its skin – and under its tiny claws. Unlike his parents, he did not have to be fearful of his claws tearing the kits skin accidentally.

Eventually Sesshomaru finished, and was surprised to see it was nearly noon. Asahi, sensing he was done, stirred – yawning, his little fangs flashing in the sunlight. Then, much to Sesshomaru's surprise – he found the kit still had ideas of exploring, as Asahi tried to crawl away from his lap.

Sesshomaru, rolling his eyes, watched the kit smelling the grasses and surroundings for the first time.

The kit – testing him, scooted a little ways away – then crawled a little more. Sesshomaru, having none of that – and determined not to let the half human get hurt, pulled it's now fluffy silver tail – the kit, surprised, quickly rushed back to him – whimpering and nuzzling him for reassurance.

Somewhat fondly, Sesshomaru held him to his chest – as he had seen his mother do.

After a few minutes of this, Asahi yawned, and bated Sesshomaru's nose with his tail causing Sesshomaru to sneeze. Upset, Sesshomaru glared down at Asahi, who yawned again, revealing two elongated canines.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips - giving Asahi's tail another fond yank, causing the kit to give a yip, and swipe at him with his clawed fingers. Sesshomaru easily dodged the swipe, and caused the kit to slide from his chest to his lap, but cursed himself for his stupidity. This wasn't a full demon's kit, and he couldn't use his demon strength – even fondly, in play until the half-kit got older.

After giving Sesshomaru his best hiss, Asahi curled up on Sesshomaru's lap, and proceeded to ignore the dog demon. Sesshomaru let out a small 'keh' and folded his arms, turning his head away - pretending not to notice the half kit, somewhat hurt by it's ignoring him.

Letting out barks of soft laugher his mother came into the clearing, with the knowledge that his mother had seen him acting like a pup, Sesshomaru blushed. Tsukiojou, smiling softly at her pup and the kit, kneeled in front of Sesshomaru, ruffling his hair.

"You did well. You father and I have decided to let Asahi live with us." Tsukiojou told a grinning Sesshomaru, who gave his mother a pleased look.

"You mean you bullied him into keeping the kit." His mother winked, reaching down to pick up Asahi from his lap, the kit had stirred, and was watching his mother's hand warily, as if he was complicating biting if it got too close.

"You've pulling his tail." Tsukiojou accused angrily, Sesshomaru nodded, and his mother glared heatedly at him – much to his confusion.

"You shouldn't. You might turn him away from touch…and then where will we be? Having invited the kitsunes here for a year so they will see if their vixens can milk him? …" Tsukiojou stopped, calming, as Sesshomaru looked down, properly shamed.

"I'm not angry Sesshomaru, just worried, the little one should be feeding, and he must be starved." Tsukiojou said with a small sighed, as she ran her fingers through Asahi's hair. Sesshomaru's golden eyes widened.

"You mean he might die?" Sesshomaru asked, having – despite himself, grown attached.

"He is a newborn; there is no way to know yet…" Tsukiojou warned, not liking it when Sesshomaru's face fell, almost hopelessly. Shifting Asahi in her lap, she notiched the blood-scent was gone, and smiled softly at Sesshomaru.

"You did well to bath him. Come son; let's go see your father." Sesshomaru followed her obediently, as she stood and went into the cave - he knew, having seen his mother look at the kit, that she would try her best to give the pup natural substances in place of milk if the kitsune's refused to help them.

Even with the winter setting in.

**Author's Note:**

> Tsukiojou; "Moon-Queen"/ "Queen-Moon", no, this is no way shape or form the name of Sesshomaru's mother. It's an inside joke - sort of. Well, now that we know what Sesshomaru's mother looks like (look it up in wikipedia), I really couldn't help but notice some similarities between… his mother and Queen Serenity of Sailor Moon Change the eyes a bit, twist those side locks into buns, and tilt that crescent moon just so and there you are, a moon queen. I had debated long and hard over if she would just be called "Mother" or nothing, this gives me amusement, thus – it is.
> 
> AN: The idea of Asahi is an old one for me. It – like The Shadow Walker started with the idea of an original character, that quickly revealed him self to be not-so-original. The questions of things – like, why is Sesshomaru so cold to InuYasha, and the world in general, when his mother claims his father being alike to being "charming". Clearly, not all Dog-Demons are so frigid with their outlooks. Obviously, he did not have such a bad childhood - so what could have turned him out so?
> 
> Then, I'm afraid, comes in the question of "Asahi", of Minamino Shuichi and Youko Kurama. Shuichi claims that his mother, Shiori, taught him to love again. Well, why did he need to relearn it? What had been the demon-child's early life been like? Had he fought his entire life to live like a thief? It seems obvious to me that something outside the norm happened between his old life of being a 'lone' thief and relatively well-off, that led to his teaming up with Yomi to become Demon Lords, and then later taking Yomi's eyes. When I saw Youko Kurama transform – and compared it to InuYasha, he looked like a half demon. What if he had been one?
> 
> So I devised my own answer of a sort – that both had had childhood friends, close enough to be brothers perhaps, which had left them between these two critical points in their lives (the Inu no Taishou's death/ Youko Kurama being dismissed by other demons because he was half-demon) . Then other people had tried to step in and take over their lives – so what if 'Youko Kurama' before he was so cold was a Brother-of-Spirit to a young and somewhat lonely Sesshomaru?
> 
> Thus, Asahi was born, to be a child-name, of the later self-named Youko Kurama.


End file.
